CLIMATE COMMUNICATION : TIME TO LIGHTEN UP ?

Manhattan is justly famed for mandating white roofs to reflect the heat of the sun. But the Big Apple is not a heat island unto itself- it's an archipelago of solar energy absorbing surfaces. How much heat cities store is directly reflected in how much energy-- and CO2-- intensive air conditioning they need, which depends not just on how light or dark people make their roofs, but things in general:

 

A  city's  albedo  is  the sum  of all  the private property and civic infrastructure under the sun. 

Urban albedo adds up to a disproportionate part of the problem of global warming, because while cities cover only 1% of the world, they contain half its population, and the power it takes to keep billions of city dwellers cool translates into multi-billion ton C02 emissions. 

ALBEDO ADDS UP : A DARK A DRIVEWAY CAN CAUSE MORE CLIMATE FORCING THAN A CAR-